This past weekend I had the pleasure of seeing Katy Perry at Wembley Arena! I bought the tickets as a Graduation Present for myself when I finished grad school like a billion years ago.

I LOVE Katy Perry so I agonised forever over what to wear. I wanted to make a new dress and wear a wig, but I didn’t have time or money to get a new wig or buy fabric. So I decided to wear two pieces that I made while I was getting my textiles degree: the Katy Perry apron you may remember from this post and my strawberry dress! We only had like 5 minutes to quickly snap some pictures of my outfit before jumping on the train to Wembley, so they came out a little derp-y, but I hope they can inspire nonetheless:

The waitress-style dress I wore underneath the apron. I made it a year or so ago, but it fits so much better now that I’ve lost weight! I designed the fabric too and had it custom printed for this dress (you may recognise where I got the idea for it if you play Poupée Girl 😉 ). The strawberry was a picture I painted, and I designed the print in Photoshop.

And the aforementioned apron I wore over it… The angle of these pictures make me look like a giant! The shoes I wore are the Iron Fist Zombie Heels. I did my make up to match the dress (the pinks are Sugarpill “Birthday Girl” and “Magcentric”, the green is Urban Decay’s “Chronic” – all vegan of course!!).
One thing I totally didn’t realise was that I bought tickets on the FLOOR!! My tickets only cost £30, so I just assumed that the whole venue was general admission because I didn’t have to choose seats when I bought them. The arena was huge and I was so close to the stage in comparison to people in the seats! I showed up an hour and a half late because I was trying to miss the opening acts, but despite my efforts I still showed up in the middle of Yelle’s set. It was okay though, because she was amazing!!

This is the first time I’ve ever gone to a major pop star’s concert so I had no idea what to expect. I’ve never seen Britney or Madonna or any of those superstars live and I’ve been to very few “major label” concerts.

The following things REALLY surprised me:
• The concert had a story line!
• There was this big fancy candy land inspired set! I was expecting just a stage!
• There were LASERS. LASERS.
• Back up dancers! Holy shit! They were doing back flips and being suspended from the ceiling! Katy’s not really known for dancing, so I just had no idea this was going to happen, but OMG!
• Pyrotechnics… REAL fireworks!

I won’t spoil the storyline for anyone who hasn’t seen the concert, but basically pre-recorded clips of a love story about Katy traveling to Candyfornia with her cat Kitty Purry played on the three big screens in the above picture. Sometimes in between songs, we’d see the next part of the storyline. Katy opened with “Teenage Dream” and came out with this AMAZING outfit that was super sparkly!
She followed that up with “Hummingbird Heartbeat”, which I was lucky enough to get a whole video of!

She followed that up with “Waking Up In Vegas”, where she threw lots of coins in the audience and had her dancers suspended from the cieling! Then she performed “Ur so Gay”. After that she took off her dress to reveal a purple and green body suit and performed “Peacock” while her dancers surrounded her with feathers! It was amazing! I managed to get this shot of her:
After “Peacock” she put on a long, beautiful sparkly dress and sang an alternative version of her first hit, “I Kissed A Girl”. Some scenes of the story played on the big screens, after which she came back on in another new outfit and performed “Circle the Drain”.

Then E.T. started and there were mother f*$@ing lasers projecting into the audience!!! They looked SO cool! I tried to get a picture but failed, so here’s a video I recorded of them… you can see Katy getting carried across stage by her dancers too:

She followed that up with “Who Am I Living For”, “Pearl”, and “Not Like the Movies”. During “Pearl”, she wore this glittery silver cape and two of her dancers were suspended from the ceiling. Then the dancers joined arms (or legs? I can’t remember) and the lifted her up off the stage! And during “Not Like The Movies”, Katy was lifted up in a swing while a big curtain was suspended behind her… Similar to her performance at the Grammies, which is where this GIF is from:
There was a little break in the middle of the show where Katy played 4 acoustic covers: “Only Girl (In the World)”, “Big Pimpin'”, “Born This Way”, and “Whip My Hair”. After the covers, she played “Thinking of You” on a rhinestone covered guitar and then there was a short pause while the next clip of the storyline played on the big screens. Katy came back onstage and did this incredible performance of “Hot N Cold” where she changed into a TON of different outfits. After that she sang “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”. Then she went into a cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”… and one of the dancers DRESSED IN A FUZZY MASCOT COSTUME OF KITTY PURRY came ON STAGE rolling around, holy shit it was HILARIOUS and amazing, I had to take a picture of it:I also took a video of it because it was THAT funny.

She closed with “Firework” which was just incredible! There were REAL Fireworks going off in the arena, and shit was CRAYZAY!
For the encore she played, of course, “California Gurls”. While it’s not my favourite song from Teenage Dream, the performance was amazing! She let loose a bunch of GIANT beach balls into the audience and everyone was bouncing them around, and two HUGE explosions of glittery confetti went off at the end!

All in all, it was one of the most incredible, inspiring, and extravagant concert experiences of my life! Waking up super early to buy tickets the day they went on sale was 100% worth it! I will definitely see her when she comes to London again!

Want to see high res pics? Check out the gallery below or comment on the gallery on facebook!

The world is abuzz talking about the new video by Britney Spears, “Hold It Against Me”, from her upcoming seventh studio album Femme Fatale. I have to admit – I had low expectations. I love her music, but I haven’t genuinely enjoyed a Britney video since 2004’s “Toxic” (and I don’t even care for that song that much, but the video is excellent). There was a lot of hype surrounding the video release as well, which made me even more concerned, especially after the recent disappointment of Lady GaGa’s new single (which was hyped to hell and back). All those feelings were put to rest when I watched the video premiere this morning.

The video opens with a comet hitting Earth. Some people say they think the comet is the “martian” Britney from her Oops! I Did It Again video, or that it represents Britney’s career taking off. I like to think it represents Britney’s higher self descending to the Earth. The titles roll, and Britney is seen dancing with back up in this absolutely killer outfit (above). Normally I’m not that into her outfits, but I am 100% in love with this. The shorts, the belt, that top, and the jacket she puts on after are all stunning. I want them all! I have to make a replica of this.

The cameras, editing shots, and product placement lead me to believe that this represents Britney in work mode. Over the course of the video, she starts to break down and go crazy little by little. These scenes are interspersed with ones of her being lifted up in a giant white dress, underneath from which apparently her faceless back up dancers are born. Surrounding her is a tower of TV screens featuring all of her old videos, like “Sometimes”, “…Baby One More Time” and so on.

As the bridge/breakdown begins, Britney shoots coloured liquid out of her fingertips and defaces the screens while collapsing slowly into the fabric of her giant dress. She’s destroying the images of her old self.

Then… the fight scene begins!

I was riveted the whole time here. The whole breakdown is just absolutely stunning. A lot of fans are complaining that they don’t understand this part. I think it’s fairly straightforward – new Britney (the Femme Fatale, or Britney’s higher self, or the REAL Britney) is fighting with the old Britney that the public seems to be clinging to. It could also represent an internal struggle – the version of Britney that the public sees fighting with how she is in her every day life.

The video finishes off with Britney and her back up dancers killing it on a stage while pyrotechnics and confetti burst around them.

My Opinion

I can’t see how anyone could say this video is less than stellar. I think this is the best thing she’s released since “Toxic”, and I’m not even into music videos that much. Despite my doubts, I was pleasantly surprised by everything – the cinematography, dancing, and those OUTFITS! I feel like I’ve watched Britney evolve into the sophisticated artist and “femme fatale” that she’s become now.

Speaking of the dancing, I know a lot of fans are disappointed because they’re waiting for Britney to return to how she danced when she was 17. First of all, this is my opinion, but I don’t think this song lends itself to that kind of Slave 4 U style dancing. Like Toxic (which didn’t have dancing in the video at all), it’s just not that kind of song. Second of all – I thought the dancing was great here! It’s no Satisfaction/Oops! I did it again performance, but its so much better than any of the videos from Circus or Blackout. I’m pleasantly surprised.

My only small criticism is the sheer amount of product placement featured in the online version (the version aired on TV had it removed). I actually don’t mind product placement, to be honest. That being said, it’s really heavy handed and in your face here, even more so than in Lady Gaga’s Telephone video – also directed by Jonas Åkerlund. I’m not sure if this is a Jonas Åkerlund thing, or if they simply needed the product placement to fund the video, which admittedly looks pretty high budget. The quick cuts were also pretty difficult to watch the first time I saw it (which is definitely an Åkerlund thing) but upon seeing it a second time, they didn’t bother me as much.

A present to bring you aural pleasure…

This is my acoustic guitar cover of Britney’s song “Everytime”! I know you will love listening to it as much as I loved making it. 😀 I wore my Batman dress and recorded it especially for this day!

The only thing I have to say now, is that I NEED a make up tutorial for the Hold It Against Me video!

Especially the scenes of her in the white dress! I’m hoping a make up guru out there will make one! Anybody?

about adorpheus

I'm a musician and a cosplayer. I watch a lot of Star Trek and listen to a lot of Elliott Smith and eat a lot of chocolate. I mostly post about veganism, because being a vegan is pretty great. Sometimes I post about the other things I do. I was featured on MTV's True Life. Read more...